Jim;

I have heard from many sources (inside of Microsoft and out) that the next version of .NET will "handle data". How many times have we been promised something from Microsoft and then told upon delivery, "Well, the next version will get it right"!

I need a pint of Guinness! :)

Tom



>I'm sorry, Woodie, but I had no intention of bashing .NET or anything else!
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>What I did do, or try to do, was to show how the words CraigB used in various replies to people don't really add up - in my head at least and I hope others see it too.
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>I long ago learned that spouting things like ".NET sucks" or "VB sucks" is stupidity, and I've done my level best to refrain from such statements.
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>Ease of data manipulation just happens to be what most businesses need computers for. It's a fairly critical characteristic of any programming for business applications. VFP has that down pat and a few other very handy characteristics.
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>The desire for gainful employment is exactly why so many want to see VFP continued under development by Microsoft. They push and shove and cajole people into .NET and have the marketing clout to succeed at that. But the fact that they can't ALSO countenance keeping 10 or less developers/testers/help writers on staff to keep VFP going shows a very limited scope on the part of Microsoft. What it really says is that they prefer to MAKE people go the full single Microsoft way rather than giving them choices. For a company as big as Microsoft it really is a black eye!
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>By now the "IP value" of VFP is long gone. Sure, Microsoft may have some uses for it, but the 'magical' aspects of "Rushmore" are undoubtedly in virtually every database offering out there by now. It's basically been figured out how it works.
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>
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>>>Well think about it for a second... you said VFP programmers wouldn't be hurting now if they had done the .NET thing 3 years ago. Then you said that .NET has problems with it's I/O capabilities (and apparently SOME of them are being addressed in LINQ).
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>>>SO people should have done the .NET migration?... to an inferior product 3 years ago that isn't even going to match the I/O capabilities this year?????
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>>>People should have done the .NET migration thing when by your own admission the VB.NET developers (the Microsoft folk) do not understand data even to this day????
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>>>As for "picking your battles", your error in that is the the petition is not a "battle" at all. Not even a skirmish. It is a simple and peaceful and elegant way of trying to effect some change to a policy/decision by the people who are adversely affected by that policy/decision. And YOU are one such person too.
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>>
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>> I hate to jump in the middle of anything and I don't want to sound condescending but this is way off base. I am one of those developers that started adopting .Net 3 years ago. After 3 years I am pretty confident in my abilities with it. I don't want to burst any bubbles but calling any .Net language "inferior" to VFP only serves to demonstrate an ignorance of both platforms. .Net might not be everyone's cup of tea but to bash it without knowing anything about it "under the hood" is ridiculous.
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>> In my opinion VFP has only one thing going for it over .Net languages: The ease of of data manipulation. Please note that ease does not make a concept better, just as implied, only easier. For n-tiered development using a business object to SP approach you lose most of that ease benefit of VFP. If you look at what the .Net platform brings to the table versus VFP you will find a long list. It is worth it to develop in c# to me just to get away from the misery that is registered DLLs and .ocx controls which are darn near required to bring a VFP UI into the modern world.
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>> I have been coding in VFP 10+ Years now and I love the tool but time marches on. I loved my toaster oven too but I gotta admit that the microwave oven is pretty nifty. Don't get me wrong, I am not a MSFT fanboy, I am a realist. I enjoy gainful employment. I have gotten very fond of keeping the bills paid. To me that means having as large a skillset as possible as to approach a job with the best tools for it.
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>> VFP is an exceptional tool but it is up against the clock. Albeit no time soon but in the not too distant future 64 bit OS's will become more and more the norm leaving VFP out in the cold. A wise developer will have another tool mastered long before that day comes. That is the choice of the individual developer however. On the bright side, the world needs plenty of bartenders!
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>>I hope the open movement for VFP gets off the ground but I doubt it will. Call me pessimistic but I dont see MSFT giving up their intellectual property (which is helping to power LINQ and SQL Server) to create a competitor for their core development tools. Call me crazy.